Full Itinerary

Day

1

Ho Chi Minh - Tan An - Long Dinh - Cai Be

After you are picked up at your hotel in hotel, we spend an hour on driving on free way to Tan An town for a morning ride. See daily activities of farmers, gardeners working on their own land, ride through vegetable plantation, rice paddies, dragon fruit farmland, and bike across irrigation canals. The morning ride will end up in Long Dinh village. Our guide will choose the best local restaurant for your lunch. In the afternoon, you will have an opportunity to share room with locals on ferry boat before you ride through An Binh Island to home-stay

Mekong Lodge

Lunch/ Dinner

25 - 50km

Flat- easy/ moderate

Day

2

Cai Be - Cho Lach - Mo Cay - Tra Vinh

Cai Be' countryside is a peaceful place to stay an overnight at local home. Waterway is the best ways of local transport with all different sizes and shapes. Farmlands are green, laden with coconut palms, rice fields, orchards and irrigation canals will let you see a unique area of Mekong Delta. We ride througho villages, have some ferry crossings along the way, to give you an up close perspective of Vietnamese life on the river. From home-stay, we cycle through the Island of An Binh, past local markets, schools, and fruit gardens on dirty track to Cho Lach. After lunch, a short transfer to avoid getting hot, we choose the best route for your afternoon’ riding. A pleasure cycle ride in the afternoon is to take time to explore beautiful scenery of coconut homeland, water palms before a publish ferry taking to further side of Upper branch of Mekong River

Thanh Tra hotel

Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

25 - 70km

Flat - easy/moderate

Day

3

Tra Vinh - Can Tho

Tra Vinh is the seaside province in Mekong Delta but many local beaches at Ba Dong are not popular because they are too far from city and water is also not very clear. The most attraction to travelers are lovely scenery, colorful temples and Khmer people and its cultures. The highlights to travelers are amazing landscapes and its cycle routes which you can bike on to as getting close to friendly peasants and Khmer people. Today you will be cycling on beautiful paths, past the farmlands and stopping at some hamlets on your way cycling to Cau Ke for lunch. The ride in the afternoon starts in Tra On town. Explore many small islets by bike and having many local ferries crossing to Binh Minh town. Then a short transfer you to hotel in city of Can Tho.

TTC Hotel - Premium Can Tho

Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

25 - 80km

Flat- easy/ moderate

Day

4

Can Tho - Long Xuyen

Cai Rang is the largest wholesale floating market in the Mekong Delta. It’s a real floating market. It starts around 05:00 and runs until 8:30 AM, meaning boat tours pick up around 05:00. It’s a six kilometer around a 30-minute boat ride from Can Tho. You really need to see the market in action. After a boat ride you to this market, this boat will get through this market slowly so that you see people exchanging farm products from small boats to big boats. On the morning ride, we ride along rivers, farmland of orchards, passing timber factories, rice husking mills and kindergartens and middle-schools along countryside back road. In the afternoon, we ride cross rice fields, through villages of thatch houses, house on stilts by rivers, canals and stopping at Bang Lang stork garden before a transfer takes you to Long Xuyen city

Hoa Binh I

Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

25 - 80km

Flat - easy/ moderate

Day

5

Long Xuyen - Tra Su - Chau Doc

Today, we cycle through the farmlands which were abandoned lands before 1975. Since 1980, Mekong farmers had moved and settled in the areas. Witness first-hand how big the rice bowl of Vietnam is. There will be many stops at small markets, and coffee shop along the ways. After we have lunch in Tan Phu market, then carry on our cycling holidays through hamlets, ride on single track, country paths to Tra Su forest. Home to 140 types of flora, 70 species of birds, 11 types of animals, 25 species of reptiles, and 23 kinds of fish, the forest is a nature lover’s dream. We explore the area on a day trip in what turns out to be one of our most magical destinations in all of the Mekong Delta. A short walk from the parking area takes us to the small pier where boats wait to take us into the flooded forest. If time permitted, our bicycle ride will be continued to Vinh Te canals and then to Chau Doc town

Nui Sam Lodge

Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

25 - 80km

Flat- easy/moderate

Day

5

Chau Doc - speed boat to Phnom Penh

You will be picked up at hotel and transferred to the dock. The boat ride takes an hour to Vinh Xuong, Vietnam border gate. Then we continue enjoy boat ride to Cambodia border gate for Cambodia visa checking/ application before it taking you to Phnom Penh. A four hour boat trip will take you to Phnom Penh capital. On the boat, you will have a chance to enjoy scenery alongside of river banks of Mekong River upstream to Cambodia. Our team will pick up you and take to your hotel for check in. Free to explore capital city by your own.

Town View II

Breakfast/ Lunch

Hang Chau boat

Day

6

Phnom Penh – Stung Sen, Kampong Chhnang

Depart from hotels at 8:00AM then we take a boat trip to cruise along Mekong River and end it up on Island of Koh Dack Island. This boat ride gives you a chance to capture so much beautiful scenery along river bank. We'll explore experience daily life through Island, stop at some family workshop making silk by hand. In the afternoon, our ride continues on country back roads; passing thatch houses along villages, schools, local marks from villages to villages. Stay a night in town of Kampong Cham

Glorious Hotel & Spa

Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

30 - 80km

Flat - easy/moderate

Day

8

Kampong Chhnang – Siem Reap

Today is along day ride but our bike guide will choose the best routes so that your adventures become more interesting. You will also stop at many colourful temples and historical relics Breakfast at hotel, a transfer in early morning takes you to rural village where you will start cycling. You will pedal pass quiet villages, rice paddies, palm trees, robber plantation. The rest of the day is on private vehicle driving to Siem Reap

Somadvi Angkor Hotel

Breakfast/ Lunch

30 - 80km

Flat - easy/ moderate

Day

8

Siem Reap – religious Angkor temple

Ride to Angkor temple, we cycle to explore surroundings, to discover incredible temples of Angkor complex. You will visit featured temples such as: the pyramid of Takeo, the jungle-clad Ta Prohm made famous by the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Tomb Raider’; Sras Srang known as the King's bathing pond; and the impressive Royal City of Angkor Thom, where you will find the Bayon, a temple famed for its many gigantic carved faces. You will also visit other important sites in this immense walled city. After lunch it is time to take on the majestic Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious building. We return to hotels by vehicles.

Somadevi Angkor hotel

Breakfast/ Lunch

25km

Flat- easy

Day

10

Ride to removed countryside - Banteay Srey

The last day of your adventure is to visit the most expertly carved Banteay Srey temple, located around 40 km. We turn off the main roads from Angkor temple cycling cycle through lush jungles to Banteay Srey which was the citadel of Women with superbly intricate reliefs of male and female divinities. Its an amazing that it was made from red pink sandstone that no temple else possibly competed. It has become one of visitor’s favorite temples as its intricate, beautiful, detailed carvings displaying Khmer classical art, culture and civilization. Visit the land mine museum on your way back to Siem Reap by vehicle. Tour End!

Mekong Delta
Throughout the Mekong Delta and its rivers with thousand branches! You will ride on a variety of roads; flat trails, paths, rural roads and country back roads where they are too small for vehicles. There are four Ethnic groups of people ling in Mekong Delta of Vietnam. They are Khmer, Cham, Chinese and Vietnamese. According to locations, provinces lowland, jungles and Islands of Con Dao and Phu Quoc, hictorical sites/relics, countryside villages and removed hamlets and sandy beaches create sceneries, landcapes and offer plenty of opportunities for cyclists to see people lives and enjoy beautiful countryside and different cultures of locals. However, Mekong Delta River has thousand branches; natural creeks and canals that small ferry boats are so important in countryside and riders have no choice!

Bike routes
We tailor make unique bike trips depend on the specific route and terrain of your tour. Vietnam Backroads is first cycle tour operator exlore and build up many adventure trips to Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Rach Gia, Vi Thanh, Cao Lanh and Sadec...and removed villages. Our top cycle tour operator and also the path finder is Mr Van nick named "Van the man" Each cycling route has to be meticulously researched, investigated and scouted out and mapped out before hand by Mr Van the man. All of our guides are well trained in bike maintenance and navigation and know all routes as they are on their hands. All bike guides can tailor make a custom route which is suitable to your wish; cycling ability and skills.

Flexible route
You do not have to ride the exact kilometer which are indicated on the tour itineraries. It will be flexible as you want. Even you could choose some longest distance that more than 80km per day if a full day ride. You could spend more time on cycling if you think the biking distance is too short !, or you can enjoy short routes and spend more time to take photos, to stop at villages/ small markets, or the home of locals to find something interesting.

Weather

The temperatures in the Mekong delta are all year round about 25-28°C with only slight variations. The climate of the Mekong River Basin ranges from temperate to tropical. In the Upper Mekong Basin, some of the taller peaks of the Tibetan Plateau are glaciated. In fact, much of this part of the Basin is snow-covered in winter. Melting snow from the Tibetan Plateau feeds the Mekong River’s dry-season flow, especially in the middle reaches. In the relatively lower elevations of the Yunnan province of China, the climate of the Mekong River Basin changes and the temperature gradually increases.

The dry season is from October to last of April. Farmers make 3 crops of rice per year so travelers not only meet them at their home but also seeing them working on farmlands. Especially, dry season is closed to Vietnamese Lunar New Year and it makes locals doing more and trying to work hard to get more money. Weather is nice, low temperature and cooler than other season.

The wet season is called flooded season or the monsoon season. It is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Sea level is higher than as usual by heavy rains from upstream countries; Tibetan- China, Laos , Thailand and Cambodia. Provinces in southwest of Mekong Delta have yearly flooded but not so long. Its from last of August to early of Nov. Its the best way to see Mekong Delta on back roads by bicycle.

In general, the preferred travel time is the dry season. But even during the rainy season from May to October is also really good time to travel by bicycle of very short rains. The rain usually comes in short, heavy showers, mostly in the afternoon and only lasts for an hour or so. Only a few days a year the temperature is below 20°C. It usually takes around one hour then gone and sunshine turns back to normal.

Vehicles

Private Support Vehicles

2 to 4 riders in a group
There is only one A/C 16 seater van to take up all riders, luggage & suitcases and bikes. There are four rows of seating for passengers on A/C 16 seater van.Two people seat on each row. The third row is for luggage and suitcases. The last row of seat will be fold up so all bikes will be uploaded here.

A medium group tour: from 5 to 7 people
There will be 2 vehicles to support riders on entire trip. One 16 seater van to take up all riders, luggage & suitcases. Another truck to carry all bikes, spare bikes, tool kits, ice box to keep cold drinks....

A large group tour: 8 to 14 people
One minibus to take up all riders including luggage & suitcases and one truck to carry all bikes, spare bikes, water, cold drinks and snacks...Ice box

A group has more than 15 riders and more than 20 people
We provide 2 minibuses and one truck to escort large groups of riders and help ensure their safety. Our pro guide will motivate a team with support vehicles to bring the best services to riders.

27.5 Giant MTB bikes & Trek Hybrid Touring Bikes

1. Pro Giant Mountain Bike - 650B/ 27.5" wheel size

27.5" Pro mountain bikes are use for off-road cycling; on dirt track and hilly single track narrow paths and also country back roads. 27.5" wheel size and MTB tires 27.5" x 1.95 is the best choice and suitable and good for challenge and technical mountain biking.

1 - Good quality and lightweight Alloy MTB 27.5" frames

2 - 27.5" Rockshox XC30 , 100mm travel, manual lockout

3 - SR Gel saddle - Very soft and comfortable for riding

4 - Deore Shimano Group set

5 - Shimano hydraulic disc brake

6 - Shimano Deore hubs - 32 holes

7 - 27.5" Alexrims disc brake rims - 32 holes

8 - Maxxis Cross Mark 27.5 x 1.95 - Good quality and suitable for both off road riding and touring long trip

Hybrid bikes are use for an off-road cycling through countryside, dirt track and but working on muddy road. Its really good for touring a long trip, it moves faster and easier. Hybrid bike gives you an easy to pedal uphills, smooth bicycle riding on quiet concrete paths and country back roads. The best choice to challenge mountain and serious hills

1 - Good quality and lightweight alloy hybrid frame

2 - 29" Rockshox XC30 , 100mm travel, manual lockout

3 - SR Gel saddle - Very soft and comfortable saddle

4 - Deore Shimano Group set

5 - Shimano hydraulic disc brake

6 - Shimano Deore hubs - 32 holes

7 - 29" Alexrims touring rims, disc brake - 32 holes

8 - Schwalbe CX Comp 700 x 38 - Good quality and suitable for both off-road cycling and touring a long trip

Guaranteed to depart

Reviews

We have just returned to South Africa from our trip to your wonderful country. First off let me say that our cycle experience with your company was absolutely first class. From the very beginning, when we met Thang at the airport, to when we parted company with your Cambodian guide, Art Siem Reap airport we were treated so well. Let me start at the beginning. Our initial booking and all the subsequent hundreds of emails I sent were answered promptly and with exact information. Thang is an asset to your company. Everyone absolutely loved him. He has a super sense of humor, he is courteous, well informed and always helpful. We also appreciated that we had the other guides with us. They too always looked after us. The few times one of us got lost was sorted out quickly. Our cycles and helmets were perfect. The iced towels at the end of each section of our ride were such a nice touch and so welcomed as were the abundance of cool drinks, cold water and snacks. I would recommend your company to everyone and will write an article about our experience in one of our magazines. I will also write a reference on Trip Advisor. (please let me know if you have a link) Let me also say that we enjoyed it when you joined us on the trip. Please thank Thang for us. We won’t forget him. He is a fine young man. We realised how much went into planning this trip. The driver with the bikes was always there when we rode up sweating and in need of a rest. The driver of our bus and his little assistant were so pleasant and helpful. Please let them know we appreciated them so much. Some of our party, in fact only two, found Art a little difficult to understand and I think they wrote this in their assessment of him. I, personally think they were far too critical as I found Art a wonderful guide. He too was courteous, well informed and went out of his way to see that we were looked after. I recommend him highly. Please let him know that we enjoyed him as a guide. His tour of the Anghor Wat and the other temples was fantastic. We loved riding around in that area. The cycle ride on the wall of the dam was so beautiful and we have wonderful pictures of us cycling in that area. Van, thank you for all the planning that went into this trip. Thank you for giving us Thang and Art as guides and thank you for an amazing insight into your country and its people. If I have one criticism it will be that the litter all over is out of control and if both Vietnam and Cambodia want to promote tourism the governments must go on an all out campaign to get the communities to clean up their areas. The people involved in tourism should also get together to ensure that your government takes a strong stand on this. What a pity to spoil such a beautiful place. 06 Mar, 2016

We are both back home and into our normal work routines - our two weeks holiday flew by. The whole trip was very enjoyable, well organised and we would certainly recommend it. The two parts (Vietnam & Cambodia) were very different with the Mekong Delta providing the most rewarding part of the trip for me. The Cambodia part had some challenges but overall was still good. In Vietnam, Dat was a superb guide and riding with him was a great experience. He was enthusiastic and made a special effort to explain to us what we were looking at, helped us to engage with the local people and also found us a huge selection of fruit and snacks to try. I felt that he genuinely wanted to give us the best tour that he could and to show us as much as he could. He balanced his time between Tamar and us well and kept us all happy. The hotels were all OK – the Chau Doc Hotel was spectacular and (for us) it would have been good to have arrived a little earlier so that we could use the swimming pool and facilities. The only part of the Vietnam tour that we didn’t enjoy was the visit to the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields memorial. It is a painful and difficult topic and I understand why it was included with his office and arranged the trip but I am sure with a little more advance planning we could have had an even better day and visited some more out of the way places. Siem Reap is more of a tourist super highway than a back road so the end of the trip was very different to the start. The temples at Angkor are superb and Siem Reap has a very lively ‘backpacker’ nightlife which was good fun and it was a good way to finish. On a more serious note, Chek unfortunately had an accident towards the end of our first day in Siem Reap and had to have 6 stitches in his knee so he could not ride. I am very pleased to say that we saw him again on the last day and he was making a good recovery. The loss of our guide was handled very professionally. Chek found an alternate guide (Chouy) who was very good and made our next day visiting the temples very enjoyable - even if he was a bit shaky and slow on his bike at times. Our hotels in Cambodia were all fine without being great. I hope that this feedback is useful and feel free to ask for more details. We both hope that we can find a way to come back visit you all again soon. April 2, 2014

We had a most memorable time with Vietnam Backroads, we would do it again and certain would recommend your company to others. Here a few things we enjoyed as well as some other feedback. Hotels were great and trip organization was fantastic - this allowed us to focus more on the vacation/site-seeing aspect of the adventure Guides and drivers - wonderful people. The bikes in Cambodia were more comfortable than the bikes we used in Vietnam. Food was excellent but at times too much - we hate to waste food and we felt because of the large portions, we were wasting some of it. The guides in Cambodia would stop and educate us along the way about the culture, people, history, etc. The same thing occurred in Vietnam but not as much. Day to Day flexibility was perfect allowing us to ride at our own pace. We would have liked to stop at some of the smaller markets in remote towns, we missed some of those opportunities. Overall, the experience was excellent, we would love to do it again someday. Nov, 2012

I will send through the valuation form, very tired but wanted to send you a quick note to say how happy we all were with the trip. You and your staff did an amazing job organizing our cycling over 3 countries, 3 languages and all worked efficiently. Everyone had such a good time and I am sure I will get a few more to come back next year. Cycling Mekong Delta Vietnam Cycling Cambodia Thank you again, will be in touch. November 10, 2013 Leonie Leonie's group of 15 from Australia Cycling 10D/9N HCM - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap Overall your arrangement is very good. The back up, the food, the accommodation are all superb. And most of all the guide provided is excellent. He speak very good English, very knowledgeable, very easy to get along and very diplomatic. Great job, we definitely like to recommend to my friends. 21st - 30th April 2013 Tan Lye Hock party from Malaysia Cycling 10D/9N HCM - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap I took a rest when I choose Vietnam Backroads for myself and my team, but its the best from the internet. It turn out more than I expected and your guide Mr Thang is very professional and very knowledgeable. There is not a boring moment with him around. He made us feel very comfortable and we enjoyed our ride very much. The numerous coffee break is good and dinner is excellent. On behalf of my team, I would say "Big thank you" to Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. 21st - 30th April 2013

We arrived back home yesterday. Had a great time on our trip! Thank you for leaving the cycling jersey's for us at our hotel room in Chau Doc, we really appreciated those. We left our feedback form with Thai for the Vietnam portion of the trip. Overall we really enjoyed our experience. Both guides were great. Thai was extremely professional, educational and accommodating while we were there. Our guide in Cambodia, Po Leak, was maybe not as professional as Thai but was very informative, friendly, and helpful as well. The one thing that would have made the trip even better is if we were provided some kind of detailed map to follow along with where we came from and went every day that had descriptions about our destinations. I had a little trouble remembered where we were and where we were going each day because we went so many places in such a short time. Otherwise the trip was great and we will definitely recommend it to our friends. We also plan to write a review for you on Trip Adviser at some point in the next week or so to help promote Vietnam Backroads. 28 Nov 2011

It was good to be able to get on the bus to skip a section of the day's ride when it was very hot or an uninteresting bit along the tar road.
The back roads through villages and countryside were excellent, very interesting. The guides were all terrific, also the drivers.
Vietnam Backroads did a great job returning our luggage that was lost by Malaysian Airlines.
Colin & Joanne Burke, November 10, 2013

Overall your arrangement is very good. The back up, the food, the accommodation are all superb. And most of all the guide provided is excellent. He speak very good English, very knowledgeable, very easy to get along and very diplomatic.

Great job, we definitely like to recommend to my friends. 21 - 30 April 2013

I took a rest when I choose Vietnam Backroads for myself and my team, but its the best from the internet. It turn out more than I expected and your guide Mr Thang is very professional and very knowledgeable. There is not a boring moment with him around. He made us feel very comfortable and we enjoyed our ride very much. The numerous coffee break is good and dinner is excellent.
On behalf of my team, I would say "Big thank you" to Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. 21 - 30 April 2013